North Carolina Republican panel supports health care reform challenge

The assembly voted to include the state into a nationwide lawsuit aimed against mandatory health insurance. This feature of the new health care reform, set to take place in 2014, requires Americans to purchase health insurance or pay a fee. The House vote was 23 to 16 in the latest provision aimed to block imposed health insurance by the Republican Party.

“This is designed to protect the vast majority of our citizens from what we believe is an unjustified incursion of government power,” said House Majority Leader Paul Stam, R-Wake, who sponsored the bill. “It’s the first time, as a condition of living and breathing, that you are required to buy a product.”

If approved by the full House this would head straight to the Senate.

The Republican Party candidates have promised to challenge the Obama backed health care by making it one of their top ten priorities in upcoming campaigns.

While Democrats persist that required health insurance will help curb overall cost of medical treatment as well as insurance premiums.

Some say that mandatory insurance will make for an even playing field, while others demand it’s unconstitutional.

Currently there are over 32 million uninsured Americans the new Affordable Care Act is designed to address. In 2014, if the federal law passes, insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage to people with illness. Online insurance exchanges for each state will be available to individuals as well as small businesses to shop, compare and purchase insurance.

North Carolina has one of the country’s worst percentages of people under the age of 65 that are currently uninsured – reported by the Census Bureau.